College

College
1927 - United Artists/ Joseph M. Schenck Productions
Directed By James W. Horne



SYNOPSIS

It's high school graduation and nerdy Ronald (Buster Keaton) still hasn't won the heart of the most popular girl in school (Anne Cornwall) because she's interested in athletes. He enrolls at the same college and begins a series of disastrous attempts to master baseball and all the track and field events. The college dean pities him forces the rowing team to accept him... as their leader!



MY THOUGHTS

In my opinion Buster Keaton was the best of the comedic actors of the silent era. This isn't one of his best features, but still funny even for a modern audience.

Keaton's stunt work is excellent as always (including the clip above.) but his (literally) backbreaking work in his film 'The General' is far better. The very end, where he shows he isn't so bad an athlete when his girl must be saved, is an excellent stunt sequence.

His films Sherlock Jr., The Cameraman, and Steamboat Bill are funnier, but the entire sequence where he tries out for baseball and track and field are consistently hilarious. When he runs out to play third base in full catcher's gear is a delight, and then gets even funnier, when batting gets hit in the butt by a ball, and later causes a triple play on the basepaths.

The 'Great Stone Face' provides a great dramatic performance as well. It's amazing how much sympathy a character can get from the audience without even showing any emotion.

The supporting music does not draw too much attention towards itself. That is a good thing with silent films, as DVD distributors tend to tack on music that has no relevance to the action on screen and as a result it's very distracting.

Though not his best film, College remains an essential film for fans of the best of the silent comedians.